Page 2 of Under the Mistle-Foe

Remy: I might get my first promotion!

The message only solidified the fact that he was thriving in his new city and was not returning any time soon. I shot him a message of congratulations before sliding my phone back into my pocket for the lonely walk home.

When I entered my dark house, Jenna’s voice echoed in my head, saying how nice it was to be able to return home to someone waiting for her.

Maybe it was time I let go of my silly teenage crush that lead to nowhere and be serious about finding a partner? As they said, the best way to get over someone was to get under someone else…

The idea sounded even better as I lay in bed, feeling the state of being alone even more with how huge my bed was. I’d heard there was a matchmaker in town who had a pretty high success rate—I believed his name was Nick.

It wasn’t hard to find the information I wanted on social media, and before I knew it, I was filling out the form to request Nick’s services.

I paused when I reached the end of the form. Using a matchmaker seemed so ridiculous. It hurt my pride to think I needed help with my dating life, but based on all my past failed relationships…

Glancing one more time at the space beside me on the giant bed and wishing it wasn’t empty, I hit the submit button.

CHAPTER 1

REMY

The soundof clattering pots and pans being moved was so familiar it took me a second to comprehend if it was reality or a dream.

I slowly peeled my eyes open to stare at the popcorn ceiling of my childhood bedroom. Neither the glow-in-the-dark solar system nor the dozens of palish greenish-yellow stars looked nearly as cool in the daylight of twenty-four as they had in the dark of my teens when I’d insisted on pasting them on my room, but it was a stark reminder of howlittlethings had changed at home.

No, that wasn’t true. Thingshadchanged. And wasn’t that the very reason I’d left Christmas Falls in the first place? Hoping that maybe the further I’d run, the hole in my heart would stop feeling big enough to swallow me up entirely.

News flash: the running hadn’t helped.

The only thing it really achieved was to fill me with regret for all the time I’d been away, leaving Dad all alone. I’d been so out of touch with him that I hadn’t even known he’d broken his leg until a couple of weeks after the fact when a concerned neighbor messaged me after seeing my dadwobble around in the diner for a week with no sign of resting.

That news hurt worse than a kick in the balls. Fear that something had happened to my family, and the fact my dad couldn’t rely on me enough to tell me about his injury.

No. It was more like while trying to escape my past in Christmas Falls, I’dinadvertently made myself unavailable to him, and that was nobody’s fault but my own. And that was one on the long list of things that needed to change.

Finally pulling myself out of bed, I quickly washed up in the bathroom, then climbed down the familiar stairs, trying my best not to look at the wall lined with happy pictures of the three of us before we’d lost Mom. Whoever said time healed didn’t know what the fuck they were talking about. It sucked being unable to move on after five years when logically I knew I couldn’t keep wallowing in Mom’s passing forever. But that was easier said than done.

I padded to the kitchen and stood at the entranceway for a brief second, overcome with a sense of déjà vu. I closed my eyes, imagining the scene I’d encountered countless times in the past, standing at the entranceway watching my parents chatting and laughing in the kitchen as they prepared breakfast. But when I opened my eyes again, my dad was the only person who came into view.

His back was facing away from me as he leaned his hip against the counter to shift his weight off his left leg, which was currently adorned with a bright red cast. He’d said that if he was going to have a broken leg during the holidays, then it might as well be festive.

I shook my head, and a light laugh escaped my lips at that memory. The laugh was loud enough for my dad to hear, apparently. Dad spun around and flashed me a bright smile.

“Mornin’, son,” he called and tried to turn his entire body toward me. He must have forgotten about the cast on his legbecause suddenly, he was tilting over like he was about to fall.

I ran to him, catching him just in time before he injured himself again.

“Dad, youhaveto be more careful!” I practically cried as I steadied him. “And what are you even doing in the kitchen? I thought I told you I’d do all the cooking?”

Dad guffawed, loud and hearty, like he hadn’t just been about to land flat on his face. “That’s nonsense. I’m perfectly capable of cooking for my son. Besides, where else would I be if not in the kitchen?”

“Resting,” I stated and guided him to a chair. “Don’t forget, you had a pretty bad fall a few weeks ago. They said you were found lying underneath a pile of boxes! Why didn’t you have one of the younger guys do inventory instead of climbing up that ladder yourself?”

He waved me off. “I’m fine. And Ididrest. Gray came around to help when he could. That gave plenty of time to get me off my leg.”

I muttered curses under my breath that my cousin hadn’t informed me about my dad’s accident but quickly quieted down when he shot me his no-nonsense glare. I knew it wasn’t Gray’s fault since Dad had practically begged him not to tell me, and not many people said no to Adam Trent.

But still, being angry at someone else was easier than wondering if Dad felt like he couldn’t rely on me…

“You act like I’m completely helpless and all alone.” Dad’s words quickly turned into a sigh that sounded like relief when he lifted his broken leg onto the pillow I’d set on the chair across from him.

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